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The Battalion • Page 5
Tuesday • July 11, 1995
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The Battyveion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials board. They do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the
Texas A&M student body, regents, administration,
faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons
and letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information on
submitting guest columns.
Editorials Board
Jay Robbins
Editor in Chief
Rob Clark
Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman
Opinion Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Assistant Opinion Editor
Adverse Effect
The greed of the players and
owners has hurt baseball.
What would happen if an
All-Star game was held and
no one cared?
Well this year, as the ma
jor league baseball players
gear up for the usually excit
ing All-Star Game, the still-
angry fans are sitting at
home. Although the
game is sold out, the
ticket sales are
sluggish and the
ticket brokers
are left trying
to get rid of
empty seats.
Barry Lif-
cowitz, head of
the National As
sociation of Tick
et Brokers, said in
a recent Associated Press
story that the All-Star game
has been a “total flop.”
“Without any question,”
he said, “the strike has had a
dramatic impact on interest
in the All-Star game. Or
should I say lack of interest.”
Ever since the baseball
strike, which lasted for more
than eight months and in
cluded a cancellation of the
World Series, game atten
dance has been down in ball
parks across the country.
According to a recent
Sports Illustrated article, at
tendance at baseball games
is down 20 percent compared
. to 1994.
Apparently, the fans are
staying at home to punish
the players and the owners
for their greed.
The strike was a long dry
spell in baseball, and to the
average American it did not
seem to make much sense.
Many fans had trouble un
derstanding why peo
ple earning millions
of dollars a year
to participate in
the great Amer
ican pastime
wanted any
thing more. It
seemed not
only ludicrous,
but unbeliev
able.
Now that the
strike is over, the public is
somewhat reluctant to for
give and forget the seemingly
greedy actions of the players
and owners.
In the Sports Illustrated
article, San Francisco Giants
President Peter Magowan
said, “I think the fans are
trying to teach us all a les
son. They won’t come back
until they feel that we are
properly spanked — and that
could be after a whole season
goes by.”
The players and coaches
hope that exciting pennant
races will bring the fans back
to the All-American pastime.
Evidently, their present
efforts have not been enough.
Hard times hit Democratic party
J udging by the results of
the midterm elections
last November, many
American voters are looking
to the Republican party for
leadership.
Many political positions in
the House and Senate, gov
ernorships and other state
and national offices previ
ously controlled by Democ
rats now are held by Repub
licans.
Whether this is a change
for the better is for history to
determine.
To add insult to injury to
the Democrats, a number of
Democratic office holders re
cently have defected to the
GOP.
One of the most recent de
fections occurred in the U.S.
Congress, with U.S. Rep.
Greg Laughlin becoming the
newest edition to the Repub
lican party.
Is such a change fair?
Many Texas voters elected
Laughlin because they be
lieved he embraced the val
ues and ideals of the Democ
ratic party.
He thanked these voters
by abandoning them.
It is unfair that Rep.
Laughlin, as well as the oth
er elected officials who have
changed parties, accepted
campaign contributions, sup
port and guidance from the
Democratic party and then
left it behind.
If Laughlin was so unsat
isfied with the Democrats,
he either should have
worked to improve the party
or run for office as a Repub
lican. Perhaps he feared he
would lose as a Republican.
Change is certain to hap
pen to the Democratic party
as the 1996 elections ap
proach.
According to an article in
the Houston Chronicle on
July 2, Bill White, Texas’
chief fund raiser for Presi
dent Clinton, stated that the
Texas Democrats have suf
fered from the national par
ty’s image.
Because Texas Democrats
cannot change the Democrat
ic Party’s national image.
White seems to suggest that
the Texas Democratic party
should put more distance be
tween itself and its national
counterpart.
Robin Rorapaugh, a con
sultant for the Democratic
Campaign Committee, said
the Texas Democrats will em
phasize the conservative tone
of the recent Democratic-led
Texas Legislature.
This is an obvious ploy to
gain voters who might oth
erwise side with the Repub
licans.
What kind of image does
all this present?
If the Democrats want to
Mark
Zane
Columnists
Justin
Barnett
show that the party is strong
and can rebound, they must
stick together during any
sign of trouble.
The party should also
avoid imitating the Repub
licans.
Nowhere in the Constitu
tion does it state that Ameri
ca should have a bipartisan
political system.
Unfortunately, this is a re
ality.
Sure, third party candi
dates exist, but such persons
rarely receive enough fund
ing and support to be elected.
Perhaps if more voters
would vocalize their dissat
isfaction with the current
political system, a change
W hy are members of the
Democratic party, espe
cially those in positions of
leadership, deserting the party?
Without being presumptuous,
perhaps it is because the party
has become associated with anti
quated concepts in general and
bloated, ineffective government
in particular. Throw in a dash of
liberalism, and you have a guar
anteed recipe for failure.
Failure is what the Democrats
are coping with at this point.
Since the elections of last No
vember, a surprising number of
Democratic office-holders have
walked across the aisle to join
the Republican party. This exo
dus has included federal as well
as state and local politicians.
can occur.
It has become sickening to
watch the two parties bicker
back and forth, mudsling and
call each other names.
With competition from ad
ditional parties, such occur
rences could be minimized.
It is upsetting when parties
change their positions on is
sues only to please the public.
This gives the impression
the party is only interested
in accumulating votes, not
improving society.
Americans have become
accustomed to choice.
We have a variety of fla
vors of ice cream, many
sneaker companies, a ton of
colleges and universities
and even various choices for
contraception.
More than two political
parties would be a welcome
addition to our freedom of
choice.
Mark Zane is a graduate
sociology student
Toward the end of last month
in Texas, a total of 23 Democrats
fled their party in one day.
The most notable was U.S.
Rep. Greg Laughlin.
The state of Texas is a good
example of how the Democrat’s
once iron grip on important of
fices is slowly and relentlessly
slipping away. Somehow they
have managed to squander the
U.S. Senate seat they held for
more than a century, lost the
governorship and witnessed the
purging of several long-time rep
resentatives.
The party defections are mere
salt in their wounds.
It would be an understate
ment to say this collapse is of ti
tanic proportions. Apocalyptic
seems more fitting. These people
have really blown it.
The Democrats have forgotten
the people who kept them in pow
er and instead have turned to the
liberal wing of the party for guid
ance and leadership.
The Democratic party of the
past was the party of the work
ing person. It supported fair
ness, integrity, thrift and a
strong work ethic. It was the
party of the common person who
wanted life, liberty and the pur
suit of happiness.
As time progressed and it be
came increasingly evident that
the liberal influence had become
preeminent, the power that the
Democrats enjoyed for so long
slowly waned. No matter how
strenuously the Democrats ob
ject, the majority of the people in
the United States have conserv
ative principles.
Now that the Democrats are
shackled with the liberal label,
they are truly painted in a cor
ner. With all of the shrill inter
ests groups vying for power, the
message of the party steadily is
becoming lost in a torrent of
rhetoric.
Texas Land Commissioner
Gary Mauro, as reported in the
Houston Chronicle, believes the
party has failed to arouse inter
est from its core constituents. He
said he wants the party once
again to convince voters it can
govern effectively and efficiently.
In his estimation, the parry
needs a whole new image.
A new image and life-support
is closer to reality. What he and
many other politicians are not
able to see is the big picture.
The Democrats, upon losing
their majority in the House,
promptly assigned leadership po
sitions to the same people who
led them down the proverbial
primrose path.
Minority Leader Richard
Gephardt and Minority Whip
David Bonior still are rehashing
the same old charges that the Re
publican Party is the party of the
rich, the poor are in danger, chil
dren will be systematically
starved and the ’80’s are to blame.
During a press conference,
Gephardt was asked his feelings
on elected officials switching
parties. He had the audacity to
speak on behalf of the American
people, stating that “the Ameri
can people do not want their
members of Congress to switch
parties for political purposes.”
I would guess the American
people would much prefer
Gephardt keep his mouth shut
for political purposes.
I am not defending the De
mocrats or trying to explain
away their failures.
The Democrats should be led
by people of their own choosing,
no matter how disastrous the
consequences.
Let them continue to espouse
a liberal agenda, even in the face
of total rejection. Let Gephardt
and his merry band of liberals
keep providing material for co
medians.
As long as they want to drive
their Edsel, no one should try to
sell them a Mercedes.
Justin Barnett is a
senior English major
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Students should define ‘success 5 by their own standards
Elizabeth
Preston
Columnist
W hen my senior seminar pro
fessor turned to the class
and asked us why we were
there, nervous giggles filled the
room. As your typical lazy college
students, we were there simply be
cause a course of this level is re
quired for graduation, and this one
titled “Nature and Man” happened
to fit our schedules.
A few students attempted to answer nobly and
impress the professor by declaring they were there
i to learn about literature or to further their knowl-
! edge of nature. Finally, a brave soul raised her
; hand and mumbled that she was in the class as a
I means to an end — that end being that she needed
I this class to graduate in August. The rest of the
class murmured in agreement.
My professor immediately began questioning
i what the student had meant. If this class was a
I means to an end, then when and where would we
| reach that end?
Most college students will describe all of their
| classes — even the ones in their majors — as a
means to an end. Thus college becomes a means to
| an end, as was high school and all of the little jobs
students students have to earn money.
But when do we reach our end?
Though it is possible that your
end is to graduate from college and
then you will begin living your
dreams, it usually does not happen
that way.
Students tend to get in debt im
mediately after graduation, buying
cars and equipment they can’t really
afford and charging up credit cards
like mad — if their credit cards aren’t
already maxed out upon graduation. Then the
newly-graduated students are forced to accept the
first job offered to them and spends the rest of
their lives just trying to keep up.
In “Walden,” Henry D. Thoreau says, “I wished
to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts
of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I
had not lived.”
A man in my class said he wanted to ride horses
all day, but seeing as how he obviously couldn’t do
that, he came to college to get a degree in history
and to find a way to support himself in a way soci
ety approves of.
Thoreau would ask: Why can’t he live on a
horse for the rest of his life? If that is his dream,
he should become a cowboy or a mounted police of
ficer or a park ranger.
Pursuing lesser dreams because of fear that
your true dream will not support you is a popular
cop-out.
In modern American society, attending college
has become a prerequisite for the middle class. Suc
cessful or mediocre students attend college almost as
a reflex. Technical jobs, blue-collar jobs and other
skilled labors are invariably looked down on.
Today, far too many people succumb
to society's expectations and accept
the standard definition of "success,"
rather than living up to their own.
The problem with all of this snobbery is that
many people desire the jobs that require less for
mal education more than being accountants,
teachers or lawyers. But in deference to pressure
from parents, societal expectations and other out
side influences, some continue to slog through
their classes, their jobs and their degrees until
they have fulfilled everyone’s dreams ... except
their own.
Earning a college education is not, and should
not be, the desire of everyone.
College is a choice, not a requirement.
Great figures throughout history lacked a for
mal education, yet many of these same people
have left extraordinary marks on society.
Ironically, many of these marks are taught as
a part of higher education.
Today, far too many people succumb to soci
ety’s expectations and accept the standard defin
ition of “success,” rather than living up to their
own. And trying to live up to these expectations
of parents, teachers and friends often can drive a
person crazy. Hence the term “mid-life crisis.”
Thoreau also writes that “To be awake is to be
alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite
awake.” If people began to live their lives the way
they wanted and fulfilled their fantasies, they
would not have to look up at the age of 40, or 50 or
whenever, and realize that they have never truly
been “awake.”
School is not the be-all and end-all of modern
existence, and a degree is not always a prerequi
site to a life — believe it or not.
The longer society’s expectations control us and
the more we live trying to reach an end that is not
our own, the less control we have of our destinies.
Elizabeth Preston is a
senior English major
The B/s. i ea i i ctn
Editorial Staff
Jay ROBBINS, Editor in Chief
ROB CLARK, Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman, Opinion Editor
GRETCHEN PERRENOT, City Editor
JODY Holley, Night News Editor
Stacy Stanton, night news editor
Michael Landauer, aggielife Editor
Nick GeorGANDIS, Sports Editor
Stew Milne, Photo Editor
Staff Members
City Desk - Assistant Editor: Eleanor Colvin; Re
porters: Katherine Arnold, Javier Hinojosa,
Jill Saunders, Michael Simmons, Wes Swift
& Tara Wilkinson
Aggielife Desk - Assistant Editor: Amy Collier Fea
ture Writers: Elizabeth Garrett, Amy Collier
& Libe Goad; Columnist: Amy Uptmor
Sportswriters — David Winder and Lee Wright
Opinion Desk - Assistant Editor: Kyle Littlefield;
Columnists: Elizabeth Preston, Frank Stan
ford & David Taylor; Contributing Colum
nists: Justin Barnett, Margaret Gordon, Alex
Miller, Chris Stidvent & Mark Zane; Editori
al Writers: Jason Brown & Alex Walters;
Editorial Cartoonists: Brad Graeber &
George Nasr
Photographers - Mike Friend, Roger Hsieh, Nick
Rodnicki & Eddy Wylie
Page Designers — News: Kristin DeLuca; Sports:
Robin Greathouse; Aggielife: Stew Milne
Copy Editors — Rob Clark & Sterling Hayman
Graphic Artists — Toon Boonyavanich & Melissa
Oldham
Strip Cartoonists - Valerie Myers & Quatro Oakley
Office Staff - Office Manager: Julie Thomas;
Clerks: Wendy Crockett & Heather Harris
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